Today, a billion-dollar-a-year polling industry floods the media with
information. Pollsters tell us not only which political candidates will
win, but how we are practicing our faith. How many Americans went to
church last week? Have they been born again? Is Jesus as popular as
Harry Potter? Polls tell us that 40 percent of Americans attend
religious services each week. They show that African Americans are no
more religious than white Americans, and that Jews are abandoning their
religion in record numbers. According to leading sociologist Robert
Wuthnow, none of that is correct. Pollsters say that attendance at
religious services has been constant for decades. But during that time
response rates in polls have plummeted, robotic "push poll" calls have
proliferated, and sampling has become more difficult. The accuracy of
political polling can be known because elections actually happen. But
there are no election results to show if the proportion of people who
say they pray every day or attend services every week is correct. A
large majority of the public doubts that polls can be trusted, and yet
night after night on TV, polls experts sum up the nation's habits to an
eager audience of millions.
Inventing American Religion offers
a provocative new argument about the influence of polls in contemporary
American society. Wuthnow contends that polls and surveys have
shaped-and distorted-how religion is understood and portrayed in the
media and also by religious leaders, practitioners, and scholars. He
calls for a robust public discussion about American religion that
extends well beyond the information provided by polls and surveys, and
suggests practical steps to facilitate such a discussion, including
changes in how the results of polls and surveys are presented.
